Earlier today Riot streamed another set of live previews of the upcomingSummoner's Rift update! The first broadcast was in English and featured commentary from CaptainLx and Nome, while the second broadcast aired in French, and a third in Spanish for the LA community.

Continue reading for a summary of the stream Q&A, VoDs, and screen caps of the new information!

[ Remember, everything shown here is a work in progress and tentative! ]

English Stream and Q&A

Riot CaptainLx ( representing the art side )and Riot Nome ( representing the gameplay side )are our hosts for the English broadcast.

Here's a brief summary of the Q&A, highlighting the gist of each set and grouping similar discussions together:

General

Each side ( now Blue and Red rather than Blue and Purple ) has it's own distinct theme.

Blue side is themed, art and buildings, like are more blocky and "Paladin like" structures".

The map has several new visuals to help distinguish different part of the map at a glance.

Baron is a focal point of the map, the terrain around him is different.

North and West part of map is full of cracks / damage to denote Baron's location

South (bottom side Red buff area) is most luscious, and wild. It's how the art team imagined Summoner's Rift would look like if Baron wasn't on the map. No damage, no cracks.

Hints of red and blue in the jungle give subtle notes to where you are located on the map - red notes near red buffs, blue notes near blue buff.

The overall theme consistancy is very important - they decided on this lush, mountain top environment and things such as the jungle creeps or doodads needed to match this.

Jungle camps were changed to feel more at home on the rift

Wraith's seemed like they were spooky and tied in better with the theme of Twisted Treeline

In relation to jungle camps reacting and having new animations: "We didn't want it to look like monsters were waiting at a bus stop". They feel natural in the environment.

Will the size of the lanes change? While it may look larger or narrower it's the same, only a lot more cleaned up which does give the sense of it having changed. The navigation mesh was kept the same.

There will be LOTS of easter eggs. No specifics

The map seems darker, why? The map seems darker because of the new focus on visual hierarchy - they want things such as spell particles and character models to pop out more against a darker back around. The goal is to increase readability. They are open to feedback here.

Example: the vista above top lane is very bright because it's not a "gameplay space".

The minimap did change, with the main focus of it being clearer and easier to read. They stressed like everything else, this isstill a work in progress.

The update features subtle changes to fog of war - clearly be distinct where Fog of War is and where it isn't. Quadrupled Fog of War textures - aiming for a hard line of "this is fog of war".

Gameplay

Spawn times for Jungle camps have not changed. Spawn animations for minion camps "pre roll" and there is a distinct white flash when mobs can be targeted

"Eyes on game and not a timer" to see the exact moment camps will spawn.

You won't be able to see monster spawn animations if you can't see the camp. Spawn animations only happen when the minions respawn, not when you walk by.

Didn't change how thick the walls were, only cleaned up the visuals to match up where the actual wall is starts and stop according to the game.

Will new boss monster changes be harder or simply more interactive? Baron on live currently casts his one big ability randomly, which is frustrating to react to. The new mechanics will be more reliable and consistent.

For example, Baron will now do 3 auto attacks and then cast one of his spells. The spells are always sequential .

New camera angle will reduces the "fish eye" effect.

Performance

If you can play SR now, you will be able to play this new map. Performance is of the highest concern.

They built the map with lower end PCs in mind.

WHEN WILL IT COME OUT?

There is no set date. Since the announcement, the team has beenactively addressing feedback and making sure it works well. They want to make sure it to runs on "every toaster on the planet".

They plan to spend a lot of time on the PBE to make sure they iron everything out.

French Preview Stream

The French stream also aired today, featuring another thirty minutes of gameplay and commentary in French.